SoLAR Storm talk: epistemology, pedagogy, assessment

Learning Analytics and Knowledge

Assessment, Pedagogy, and Epistemology

@sjgknighthttp://kmi.open.ac.uk/people/member/simon-knight

Who am I?

• After graduating, I qualified to teach & taught high school philosophy & psychology

• MA Philosophy of Education – explored what implications for ‘knowledge’ might be if (e.g.) Wikipedia is part of our mind

• MPhil EdRes – explored children’s beliefs about knowledge in collaborative information retrieval tasks

• PhD – applying this to LA and knowledge mapping

What problem are we positioning to solve…

• Education is undergoing some radical – and contested – changes

• There is opportunity for LA to have an impact on that change

• The technology is growing, now is an opportunity to reflect on what our contribution to what education looks like is

What is education doing?

• Purposes of education are contested, but most would agree that the cultivation of knowledge is key

• When we assess, we are aiming to assess the learning of that knowledge

• And our pedagogy – our mode of teaching – is primed to facilitate this knowledge cultivation

What is Assessment?

• Summative• Formative/AfL

What is Pedagogy?

E.g.• Instructivist• Constructivist• Apprenticeship

What is epistemology?

• What is truth (Realist, constructivist, relativist?, coherence v correspondence)

• Holist v. discrete• Knowing how v. knowing that

What is epistemology?

What is Pedagogy?What is Assessment?• Summative• Formative/AfL• Coursework, open book, multiple

choice, etc.

• Instructivist• Constructivist• Apprenticeship• Pragmatist

• What is truth (Realist, constructivist, relativist?, coherence v correspondence)

• Holist v. discrete• Knowing how v. knowing that

Does Epistemology drive everything?

In Theory….

Epistemology underlies Assessment:How do we decide (assess) if someone ‘knows’

Assessment shapes pedagogy: Pedagogy is targeted at attaining ‘creditworthy’ knowledge

Pedagogy shapes assessment:Use of Assessment (for learning) is driven by pedagogic aims

Pedagogy should be targeted at cultivating knowledge/knowers

Does assessment drive everything?

In Practice….?

Assessment drives understanding of epistemologyWhat can we assess in highly reliable ways?

Pedagogy is (sometimes) taken to implicate particular (‘soft’) ways of ‘knowing’

Assessment underlies pedagogye.g. Use of AfL is driven by assessment (which is not necessarily related to epistemology but ‘right answerism’ & exam skill)

Denmark…http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8341589.stm Two minute movie on use of internet in exams in Denmark

How does this relate to the triad…

Why does this matter for LA? Think about some LA that you’re aware of – where does it sit? What sorts of assessment and pedagogy does it most relate to?

Why does this matter for LA?

Our Learning Analytics are our Pedagogy (SBS)All the important stuff with analytics happens… after we've done the analytics (Siemens)

Where should LA sit?

Conclusions…

• There is a need for reform• This reform will require us to consider where

LA’s force lies, and what its relationship is to conceptualising education

• LA may have many roles• Current models of education could be

challenged • High level knowledge, and assessment for

learning are both highly important

• Thank you…

Can LA help us understand, how people understand these relationships?